


Noble Deeds

by Bofur1



Series: BofurGlóinNori [7]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Camping, Epic Friendship, Gen, Glóin is a Good Friend, Mischief, Non-Graphic Violence, Post-Quest, Punishment, Robbery, Young Aragorn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 16:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1310848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Bofur1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Nori steals from the wrong person on a camping trip in the woods, Glóin pleads that he be the one who takes punishment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noble Deeds

A sharp rapping on the door of Glóin’s counting chamber startled him, causing the stacks of coins before him to erupt, clattering onto the desktop.

“No!” Glóin buried his head in his hands and then jerked it up just as quickly with a menacing growl. His chair scooted back with a screech and he heard a muffled noise of uneasiness from behind the door.

“You _should_ be wincing!” Glóin bellowed furiously as he rose to his feet and stalked forward so he could greet his visitor with a punch to the jaw. When he opened it, however, he sufficed for glaring mightily. “Oh, it’s you.”

“...Hullo, Glóin,” Bofur greeted him, smiling hesitantly. Nori clicked his tongue and tipped a jaunty salute.

Glóin stared at them with an expression that could only be called a _mope_.

“We’ve come to pull you away from your countin’ for a while,” Nori announced. “We’re goin’ on a vacation and takin’ you with us!”

“Where, when, and why?” Glóin asked flatly.

“Higher up in th’ mountains, leavin’ tonight, cos ye’re our friend an’ we miss spendin’ time with ye!” Bofur exclaimed happily.

Glóin sighed and slumped against the doorframe. “I’m sorry, lads, but I don’t think—”

“It’s not up for debate,” Nori cut him off. “You need a break from all this.” He waved a hand vaguely at the room at Glóin’s back. “Lockin’ yourself up like you have been isn’t healthy.”

“So come enjoy this getaway with us!” Bofur urged, his eyes sparking with enthusiasm.

“You sound like a public notice,” Glóin scolded. “But I guess that shows how susceptible I am. Alright, I’ll come.”

Nori and Bofur both whooped their glee and clapped him repeatedly on his shoulders. “You won’t regret it,” Nori assured him with a broad grin.

“I hope not,” Glóin replied, his tone still mildly suspicious. What did the jokers have planned this time?

\-----

That night the friends who were now recognized as the “Infamous Trio” sat around a campfire, munching pensively on conies they had trapped and cooked in the wood.

“It’s a strange thing,” Bofur suddenly commented quietly, “but I have a feelin’ that we’re not alone.”

“This isn’t a lead-up to a ghost story, is it?” Glóin asked wearily.

“ _Glóin_.” Bofur’s voice was a fierce whisper. “Someone else is in this wood.”

“Don’t fray your moustache, Bof’,” Nori soothed in a low voice. “I’ll go scout things out.” So saying, he carefully set aside his piece of cony and rose soundlessly to his feet, disappearing from their tiny glade with knives in both hands.

The silence after his departure grew heavy with unease. Bofur wrung his gloved hands anxiously and Glóin unthinkingly took Nori’s meat and began gnawing on it to curb his restlessness.

“Mates!” Nori’s whisper caused them both to leap for their weapons. “Cor, did you miss me that much? I’m touched!”

“What took ye so long?!” Bofur demanded.

“Shh...” Nori lifted a finger to his lips. “You were right. We’re not alone. One of the Menfolk is camped nearby.”

Bofur leaned forward and repeated, “But what took ye—”

“Just the usual,” Nori said vaguely, which made the answer not vague at all.

“You...you _stole_ from him,” Glóin sputtered, the remaining bones of the cony cracking as he clenched his fists in anger. “Nori, you’re a—”

“Petty thief with no good intentions or heart whatsoever?”

Glóin snapped his mouth shut, his teeth grinding. He turned to see what Bofur’s reaction was and found his friend sitting stock-still, his mouth open but seemingly without speech.

“What?” Nori was confused also by the Broadbeam’s aura of shock and horror. Then realization dawned on Nori’s face and he slowly lifted his hands, fingers spread wide to show he had no hidden weapon. “Not many can get the jump on me,” he announced stiffly. “Be proud, whoever you are.”

Glóin startled as the Man materialized from the shadows, armed with an arrow aimed at Nori’s head.

“I would have my ring back now, if you please,” he requested in a deadly tone.

Nori nodded, slowly reaching toward the pocket of his trousers. The Man watched him warily, with good reason. Nori’s knife flashed from his pocket and chopped off the arrowhead, sending it flying into the grass. The Man drew his sword and met Nori’s knife face-on.

Glóin and Bofur leapt to their feet as Nori and the stranger began a vicious, flurrying dance of flashing steel and clothing shadowed by the firelight.

All at once Nori was being slammed against the base of a tree and the Man’s sword was poised at his neck.

“I won’t waste a night cleaning my blade of thief’s blood,” he hissed. “But you will still receive reprisal for your actions.” He wrapped his free hand around Nori’s neck.

Glóin lunged forward, seizing the stranger’s wrist. “No! Whatever punishment you’re planning for him, I’ll take it.”

“You didn’t steal from me.”

“But Dwarves don’t stand by in their friends’ matter of honor,” Glóin insisted. “I’ll take whatever you give, Mister...”

“Strider.” The Man gave him a sidelong glance.

“That’s a Ranger’s title, isn’t it?” Nori muttered, coughing slightly as the hand around his throat squeezed to silence him.

“Strider.” Glóin’s expression was earnest. “Please.”

The Ranger slowly released Nori, who rubbed his neck and cursed beneath his breath. Glóin flinched a bit when the sword nudged aside his beard to get at his throat, but he met Strider’s gaze steadily.

“I could do terrible things to you,” Strider told him in a low voice. “Things that would cause you agony when you tried to sit up each morning.”

Bofur startled them all by crying out. “Don’t!” he pleaded. “He’s got a wife an’ a wee lad—he needs t’ work an’ provide fer ’em—don’t hurt him, please!”

Strider’s piercing blue eyes met Glóin’s murky brown ones. “Your son,” he said slowly. “His name?”

“Gimli,” Glóin ground out, his angry tone mostly directed toward Bofur for revealing he had a family. “Gimli, son of Glóin.”

“How old?”

“Sixty-four just last week.”

“Young in human years, then,” Strider mused, mostly to himself. He paused for a long moment before stepping back and sheathing his sword. Glóin blinked in surprise.

“You’re not going to—?”

“Someone killed my father when I was two years old. I’ve heard he was an honorable man, but he was never there to tell me of his noble deeds himself. Gimli should be able to hear those from you without a grunt of pain in between each word.”

Glóin almost thought he saw a smirk cross the Man’s face before he turned to Nori. “My ring. Now.”

Sullenly Nori drew out the snake ring and placed it in the outstretched hand. Strider nodded his thanks and turned to head back into the trees.

“Glóin. I don’t think this will be the last time we meet.”

When the Ranger was gone, Glóin stomped over to Nori and belted him upside the head.

“You seriously tried to steal a ring from him?!”

“I didn’t know he was a Ranger,” Nori sulked.

Bofur glared as he came around the fire and belted the other side of Nori’s head.

“This is vacation!” he snapped. “Vacation from _everythin’_ , Nori, got that?”

“Yeh, yeh,” the thief mumbled. Bofur nodded and bent down, spreading out his blankets.

“Hopefully I’m goin’ t’ get some sleep without thinkin’ that Strider’s comin’ after us! Nori, ye’d better get on watch so he can’t surprise us.”

Nori groaned, but for once did as someone told him, sinking down on a rock. Glóin shook his head and reached for his bedroll, burrowing deep inside it. He was nearly asleep when he heard Nori’s exclamation of dismay.

“Who ate my cony?!”

 


End file.
